David:The Shepherd King, #5
What To Do When God Removes Your Security
1 Samuel 18:6-21:15
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
"God wants us to find our security ultimately in Him. The reason for that is that all of these things are temporary and our relationship with Him has the potential of being eternal. But there is an independent streak in all of us that tends sometimes to neglect to develop our security and trust in God when there are so many other things that offer what we think is secure."
Introduction
The scene is a four engine jet liner. The pilot's voice comes on the intercom: "Those of you on the left side of the plane have probably noticed that one of our engines has failed. Please do not be alarmed. We can still fly on three engines, but we will probably arrive about 15 minutes late." A few minutes later, the pilot's calm voice came on again: "Those of you on the right side of the plane are probably aware that a second engine has failed. Please do not be alarmed. We can make it on two engines, though we will probably be at least 30 minutes late now." A few minutes later the pilot spoke to the passengers again: "It has just come to my attention that a third engine has failed. Please do not be alarmed. We can make it to the airport on only one engine. However, we will arrive approximately 45 minutes late." One passenger turned to another and said, "Boy, I hope that fourth engine doesn't fail, or we could be up here all night!"
A story like that makes a good joke, but if it were really to happen to some of us, there would be no one laughing. When you are flying, your security literally depends upon the functioning of those engines.
Just as a flyer's sense of security is wrapped up in the proper functioning of those engines, so, too, in life, our sense of security is often dependent upon various factors in our lives such as our jobs, our families, our friends, our position in society. And we can become very secure in these things. A person with a good job, a nice house, a loving family, the respect of other people, good health, well, what else could he need? Right? Maybe he doesn't even need God.
And therein lies a problem. God wants us to find our security ultimately in Him. The reason for that is that all of these things are temporary and our relationship with Him has the potential of being eternal. But there is an independent streak in all of us that tends sometimes to neglect to develop our security and trust in God when there are so many other things that offer what we think is secure. Though it is not always the case, it is often true that the person who is secure in these other things will have somewhat of a problem trusting God. Oh, he won't know it - unless he begins to lose any or all of these things that make him feel secure.
It seems to be true that in many cases, God allows his children to go through the loss of worldly means of security in order to test, expose, and/or develop trust in Him.
Young David, the anointed, but not yet actual King of Israel, back about 1000 years before Christ, was flying high above the clouds of secure circumstances. He had been brought out of obscurity as a shepherd and anointed by Samuel the Prophet to be the next King of Israel. He had taken on the giant, Goliath, and been victorious when everyone else was afraid. Because of his victory, Saul, the incumbent King had put him in charge of his army. David led that army out into battle and won time and again. He was very popular among the army rank and file. When the army came home, he found he was popular among the people, too - even more popular than King Saul himself.
(Read 18:6-7)
David was on a roll of success! But then, suddenly, one at a time, his engines of security began to sputter and go out. And God allowed it to happen, though David had done nothing wrong. Chapters 18-21 of 1 Samuel describe how all of his earthly securities were removed from him. He lost his position in the King's army. He lost his wife who was given to him after the victory over Goliath. He lost his mentor and long time counselor, Samuel. He lost his best friend, Jonathan, and he even lost his self respect. Like the airline passenger who sees the last engine fail, he had nothing else to depend on but God.
David's life at this stage typifies the person whom God is teaching to depend upon Him. It seems to be universal in human nature that you and I tend to find our security in everything else except God. Our bank account, our job, our family, you name it. And often, it isn't until these things are actually taken away that we finally learn to lean of the Lord. It is seldom a pleasant experience.
Let's watch this slice out of David's life as God removed the securities, one at a time and see what we might learn. This lesson is important to all of us, but particularly any of us who have experienced loss.
I. The First Thing David Lost Was His Good Position.
(Read v. 10)
When those women sang that song about David and his ten thousands, Saul was enraged with anger and obsessed with jealousy.
(Read v. 11-13)
There is a demotion in that verse. Notice back in verse 5 the position that David had occupied before this incident.
(Read v. 5)
He had been set "over the men of war." David had apparently been made a general. Now he would only be over a thousand men.
No matter what the cause, a demotion is usually hard for us to take when it comes. We feel rejected and we hurt. It is especially hard to take when we have done nothing to deserve it, which is the case with David. But that wasn't the end of it. In spite, Saul cheated David out of the wife that he had been promised for killing Goliath.
(Read v. 19)
Now, that may not have set well for Saul in the public eye, so the next thing we find is Saul hatching a plot where it would appear that he was going to give David his younger daughter, Michal, as a wife. But since David was a poor man, a dowry for a King's daughter was out of reach. "No problem," said Saul. "Go out and kill a hundred Philistine soldiers and I'll accept that as a dowry." Of course, Saul figured that David would be killed in the process and he would be rid of him.
That did not work because God was with David. He presented Saul with the evidence of two hundred dead enemy soldiers. Saul had no choice but to give David his daughter, Michal in marriage. David became the King's son-in-law. But that did not stop the murderous designs of Saul. Ultimately, David was driven away from the King's court.
(Read 19:1)
The verses that follow tell us how Jonathan pleaded with his father not to kill David, an innocent man. He reminded him how faithful David had been in battle with the giant and in the King's army. Saul listened to his son for a little while. David was restored to his place at the palace. But Saul's jealousy soon returned.
(Read v. 9-10)
David went home that night. Saul sent men to surround his house and kill him when he came out in the morning.
(Read v. 11-12)
That was the last that David saw of his old job and position. From then on he became a hunted man - chased like a common criminal. Had he done anything to deserve that? No! Unless being faithful to what he was told to do was wrong.
Most of you men and some of you women get a lot of security from what you do for a living. Among a group of men, after names are exchanged in an introduction, what is usually the next question that is asked? "And what do you do for a living?" Most men derive a sense of who they are by what they do as an occupation. How would it effect you if suddenly you permanently lost your job and position through no fault of your own. You could never go back. Would it effect your sense of security?
I had never seen my father struggle with life until the year that he lost his job of 25 years when the company he worked for went out of business. It was devastating for him! Some of you may know well what I am talking about. You really don't know just how much sense of security you derive from your job until you lose it for some reason.
David lost it.
II. The Second Thing David Lost Was His Wife, Michal.
After David escaped that night, Michal took steps to cover her actions.
(Read v. 13-17)
Now, was what Michal says here true? Did David threaten to kill her if she didn't help him escape? No! She is telling this lie so that she will have a bridge back to the palace! Michal proved here and later, to be the kind person who is loyal to the one who is moving up. She dropped David like a hot potato! As a matter of fact, David would be on the run for quite awhile after this. What did Michal do during that time? Let me show you.
(Read I Samuel 25:44)
Saul just gave David's wife to someone else! And is there any hint that she resisted? Not the slightest bit!
I cannot tell you what I would do if my wife left me or were suddenly taken from me. But I can tell you that it would be very difficult for me.
Perhaps some of you would know what that feels like. You know first hand what it means to lose someone you've depended upon. Some of you have, during a time of loss like that, learned in a special way what it means to lean upon the Lord and get your security from him. But there are some who are completely wiped out by such a loss.
Well, through no fault of his own, David has lost his position and his wife.
III. The Third Thing He Lost Was His Old Mentor.
When we a hurting from a loss, we usually go to those whom we know care about us and have helped us in the past. David was no exception. He went to his old friend, Samuel, the one who had anointed him. David had probably spent some time under Samuel's tutelage.
(Read v. 18a)
Can you imagine what that conversation must have sounded like? "Samuel, I was just doing my job as faithfully as I knew how. I did nothing to deserve Saul's wrath! What is going on? I don't understand! Why is God letting this happen to me?"
Do you know anyone who has ever used those words before? Have you? Why does God let these things happen to faithful children of His? Doesn't He care? Yes, He does.
(Read v. 18b)
Now, Naioth was the place where Samuel kept his "school of the prophets," young men being trained for the prophetic ministry. Certainly Saul wouldn't find him there, or perhaps wouldn't pursue him there, since he might fear what God might do to him through Samuel. But he had no sooner gotten there than word got out.
(Read v. 19)
God protected David there for awhile. As Saul sent his men to capture David, they would get close to the place and suddenly God's Spirit would come upon them and they would prophesy. Thwarted by God Himself, they would return empty handed. This went on several times until finally Saul himself went to get David.
(Read v. 24)
Now, that's a different sort of intervention of God, isn't it?
But finally, David had to leave his friend, Samuel, behind. I picture Samuel saying something like, "David, you have to leave. We just cannot protect you anymore."
(Read 20:1a)
David fled to the side of another person who had afforded him security in times past, Jonathan. Yet,
IV. The Fourth Thing David Lost Was His Best Friend.
Picture David, out of breath, having just come in from Ramah, talking with his old friend. Just like us today when suddenly things seem to be going all bad and we have done nothing wrong to deserve them, David was wondering why.
(Read v. 1b)
At first Jonathan did not believe that his father could have reverted back to wanting David dead. But in the series of events that follow, he was convinced and saw no other recourse than that he and his friend part company. Saul even threw his spear at Jonathan in his rage. Jonathan met David at a prearranged place and told him of his father's wrath.
(Read v. 41.)
David was weeping, no doubt, because he must part with his friend. But we also need to remember all the things he has lost. His position. His wife. His mentor. And now his friend.
(Read v. 42)
David would see his friend one more time before Jonathan's untimely death took him away from him forever.
Well, David was yet to lose one more thing:
V. The Fifth Thing David Lost Was His Personal Dignity.
In chapter 21, David went next to the city of the priests, called Nob. There he ate and drank and was given the sword that he had taken from Goliath. But he couldn't hide there long either.
(Read 21:7)
As soon as Doeg could, he would tell Saul of David's whereabouts, and that the priests were hiding him in the city. Saul, totally demented with rage by this time, summoned the priests to the palace. When they would not obey his order to kill David, Saul ordered Doeg to go down and wipe out the whole city of Nob.
(Read 22:18-19)
But David had once again escaped.
(Read 21:10)
Now we have to stop there and notice something. Goliath was from the city of Gath! David actually had to try to find refuge in an enemy city!
But that was kind of like trying to hide President Bush in the halls of congress. David was a household word in Gath!
(Read v. 11-12)
And then the ultimate humiliation. David, the best known warrior in the land, the man who was a household word and the topic of the number one song of the top forty of the land, had to set his personal dignity aside and act like a crazy man.
(Read v. 13)
Tell me, is that the behavior commensurate with the King elect? Is that the personality of the mightiest man of war in Israel? Apparently it was so contrary to what Achish might expect from such a one that he was fully convinced.
(Read v. 14-15)
"Why did you bring him to me? Did you think I don't have enough nuts in the palace as it is?
So, David is forced to abandon even his personal dignity as he disguises his sanity and dribbles in his beard and scribbles on the gate.
David has lost his position. He has lost his wife. He has lost his mentor and counselor. He has lost his friend. And he has lost his dignity.
Application
So what about all of this? What does it mean to us? How does it apply?
Well, some of you already know what it is like to lose these things that seem to give security. You may have lost your job of many years. You may have lost a mate or another important member of your family like a parent. You may have suffered through a divorce through no fault of your own or a great financial loss. You may have lost a close friend. You may have lost a business. You may have lost several or all of these things. Yet, you are a Christian trying to be right with God so you've wondered why.
A.W. Tozer, writing in his book, THE PURSUIT OF GOD, has said some things that I believe bring such issues into focus. Allow me to read a few lines from his chapter called "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing."
"Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply 'things.' They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God has showered upon him.
"But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin to the soul.
"Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and 'things' were allowed to enter.
"Within the human heart 'things' have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.
"The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution."
Tozer then writes of the painful process of excising these things and returning God to His rightful place- which I believe brings these losses we've been talking about into focus:
"The ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple."
What Tozer is saying is that when persons or things subtly take over and push God out of the central focus of our being and our trust, moving them aside to return God to His rightful position is never easy.. Often we must lose the things and people most important to us. And yet it is sometimes necessary if God is to reign supreme in our lives.
It is at a time like that where we either reach out and trust fully in God or we suddenly discover that our faith in Him is in truth, insufficient.
David was passing through some of the darkest hours of his life up to this point. God killed all the world's engines of security. What was his response?
It is recorded for us in the 57th Psalm.
(Turn there and read it)
If you were to suddenly lose it all except God, what would be your response? If you already have lost much, what has been your response?
